


Skin and Bones

by Anonymous



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Gen, Prompt Fill
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-02-02
Updated: 2011-02-02
Packaged: 2017-10-16 04:24:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 739
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/168375
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Captchalogue Prompt: Set after the implied they're all in the viel.<br/>Karkat's eating habits are nearly as bad as his sleeping habits. By which I mean almost nonexistent. John decides to fix this.<br/>Can be either a pairing or just friendship, though I'd prefer a pairing. But hey, beggars can't be choosers.<br/>If you do do a pairing, then John should totally end up carrying Karkat for whatever reason, and notices just how freaking light the guy is, and from there realizes he barely eats. (though you could always make that fit into friendship, too, I'm sure)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Skin and Bones

John always realized that Karkat was a skinny guy, but never thought much of it. Some people were skinny. No big deal. He also noticed that he never saw him at meals, but didn’t think much of that either. Chalk it up to a by-product of the very different sleep schedules he assumed they had. Karkat was never there when John went to sleep or when he woke up anyway, and John would know since they were sharing a room.

When the kids had arrived in the veil, nothing magically expanded to accommodate them, so they all ended up bunking in one of the troll’s rooms. Rose and Kanaya paired up fairly quickly, and Jade accepted Feferi’s offer to stay with her with only slight hesitation. Dave was bunking with Gamzee (“Ironically,” he assured), and John pretty much forced himself on Karkat, all buck-toothed smiles and assurances of movie marathons.

This might have been another reason Karkat wasn’t in their room often.

So, having no reason to believe otherwise, John thought Karkat was eating and sleeping, just not when he was around, that he was just naturally kinda skinny, and that everything was fine.

Until he walked in on Karkat changing.

The thing about Karkat’s room was that there weren’t any doors or section-off areas except for the ectobiology lab, which Karkat refused to use as a “respite block.” So, he and John decided to just set up a sleeping area down the stairs a bit and be done with it. It was a good enough arrangement, except it didn’t lend itself well to privacy.

“I could stay awake, just to _heeeear you breeeeathin’_ ~!” John sang, walking casually to their room. It was surprisingly fun in the Veil, what with all the crazy Troll shenanigans and finally hanging out with his best friends in person, and he couldn’t help but be up-beat most of the time. His voice reverberated off the metal walls, bouncing around until it sounded like a hundred Johns were all singing together, slightly out-of-sync and out-of-tune.

He continued his solo even after stepping on Karkat’s transporter pad and entering becasue, hey, the dude was never there anyway and he was just getting to the chorus…

 _“I DON’T WANNA CLOOOOSE MY EYEEEEEEES~! I DON’T WANNA FAAAAAAALL ASLEEP, ‘CAUSE I’LL MISS YOU, BABE, AND I DON’T WANNAAAAA_ AAAAHHHSHITSORRY!”

Of course.

In front of him was Karkat, wrestling desperately into some form of clothing (though not fully naked, thank god) and cursing to himself about stupid _fucking_ humans. John’s face shot into his hands, burning both from his unencumbered singing and walking in on Karkat half-naked. Sure, they were both boys, but trolls were weird and who knew what they looked like under their clothes? It was honestly something John wanted to remain a mystery and he was fairly certain the feeling was mutual.

A silence stretched between them, clothing rustling and then a breathy, annoyed growl. John lifted his head toward the noise, hands still glued to his eyes.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake Egbert, stop hiding your face, you look like an idiot,” Karkat muttered.

“But…”

“I have pants on, it’s safe.”

John slowly let his hands drop, face still bright red, “Sorry.”

“Whatever.”

John opened his mouth to say something – maybe ask Karkat why he was changing in the middle of the (relative) day or if he wanted to watch one of his movies as an apology – but whatever it was died in his throat on the way out. Karkat had seemed normal-skinny in his baggy clothes, but up close and without a shirt on…

The dark shadows of his bones stood out against his mid-gray skin, sharp and cutting. His collar bone and rib bones all easily visible, his stomach concave. When he turned around to shrug on a shirt, each and every vertebra on his back was clearly defined, almost as if his bones were pushing against his skin. The tendons in his neck, his thin wrists and arms… John swallowed loudly. His ears were ringing.

No one should be that skinny.

“What?” Karkat growled, causing John to break out of his daze.

“Huh?”

“You’re staring at me like I’m about to dissolve into a puddle of sopor slime or some shit, what is it?”

 _His jaw is too defined; his cheeks aren’t round enough_ … “It’s nothing,” Johns chocked out, turning his face toward the floor, “It’s nothing.”

No one should be that skinny.  



End file.
